Re: [Nmh-workers] mhshow manpage (was Re: 1.7rc3: mhl(1) man page refers to old mhl.format name

[Ralph Corderoy]

Hi Valdis,

> > This topic popped up at the end of August, and a few years back when
> > Ken wanted to "garbage collect" it;  Lyndon then said he made use of
> > it to spot identical parts across emails.
>
> Do enough MUAs/people generate the header for it to be useful for that
> purpose?

I expect he was just talking about his own emails.  The archives talk
about MH-E using a similar header for cache indexing IIRC;  they didn't
know about Content-MD5 when they created theirs.

My unquoted reason for using it is also applying to my own emails;
they're sent my nmh, pass through other programs, received by nmh, and
then shuffled around by nmh over time.  Given I've been in the sausage
factory and seen how the sausages are made, that nmh can readily be made
to SEGV by concoctions and so probably goes awry without the SEGV drama
at other times, it seems a useful addition.

Content-MD5 is in an RFC, the code isn't complex, it isn't implemented
as six large functions, all slightly different without making clear if
that's deliberate or accidental, and that there's much more whiffy areas
of nmh to ritually cleanse by burning, I think it should stay.
Actually, its use should increase, being turned on by default.  :-)

-- 
Cheers, Ralph.
https://plus.google.com/+RalphCorderoy